Paye, Upper Darby pump up tie with Radnor

Upper Darby's Enoch Paye, left, has a piece of the shirt of Radnor's Tyler Helms during a Central League game Tuesday. Paye and the Royals settled for a 1-1 tie with the Red Raiders. (Times staff / ROBERT J. GURECKI)

RADNOR -- The team that lost the lead exited the field with smiles, its players almost exulting as they boarded their bus. The team that forced overtime with a tying goal hung its heads.

Two teams going in two different directions.

"There's no question we should've won this game," said Radnor's Dean Dersimonian. "We left a few goals out there and we left three points out there."

Upper Darby's Enoch Paye saw Tuesday's match differently.

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"If this was a bike race, we pedaled our fastest to make one last push," Paye said.

Analogies aside, Radnor scored four minutes after Upper Darby, the Central League teams trading second-half tallies that led to a 1-1 overtime draw.

For Upper Darby, it was a result the Royals were willing to accept. They've lost seven starters this season to injury, began their match at Radnor with only two healthy bodies on the bench and featured a lineup with only two guys who had varsity experience beyond the 2011 campaign.

"That's one thing I never have to worry about with these guys," said Upper Darby coach Tom Farr. "At Upper Darby, things happen, but you never have to worry about the team giving you everything they have. Upper Darby teams always work hard."

For Radnor, this was the one that got away. The Red Raiders believe they have a team capable of competing for a league crown. So following up a string of one win in five games with a deflating tie wasn't their first option.

"We have a bunch of skill and we have guys individually with brains, but we need a collective brain and we just don't have it," said Radnor coach Kyle Shilcock-Elliott. "Teams that outhustle us are just as good as us."

Upper Darby (4-3-1, 1-2-1) got on the board first, with a 47th-minute penalty kick that created as much ire for Radnor's bench as the final score.

The Raiders' Shane Hickey tackled Royals' Nate Wahner in the box. It looked clean, but the officials ruled otherwise ... which put Paye at the penalty spot to convert his second goal of the season.

"I put all my weight on my left foot and then I went right," said Paye, the Royals' captain.

It didn't take long for the Raiders (2-4-2, 1-1-2) to equalize.

In the 51st minute, Dermisonian one-timed a beautiful cross in the box from Kevin Hartnett, driving in a right-footed goal past Upper Darby keeper Tim Johnson.

It was all either team mustered in the 100-minute, double-overtime match.

"We'll take it," Farr said.

The same can't be said for the guys from the other side.

Elsewhere in the Central League:

Garnet Valley 2, Penncrest 1

Alex Miller's goal from 40 yards out and nearly three minutes into the first overtime gave the Jaguars (6-4, 2-2) the victory. Miller took a touch and chipped the ball over Lions keeper Dan Ardekani.